Fish cleaning device and method for filleting

ABSTRACT

A HAND TOOL HAVING A HANDLE WITH A CONCAVE BLADE AT EACH END AND A METHOD FOR OBTAINING A SKINLESS, BONELESS ONE PIECE FILLET. THE BLADE INCLUDES A LINEAR SHEARING EDGE BONELESS A CURVILINEAR SHEARING EDGE CONFORMING TO THE RIB CAGE OF A FISH, EDGES CONVERGING TO AN APEX. THE APEX OF THE BLADE MAY BE INSERTED IN A SLIT ALONG THE BACKBONE OF THE FISH TERMINATING IN A TRANSVERSE SLIT AT THE TAIL. WITH THE CONCAVITY FACING TOWARD THE TAIL, THE LINEAR SHEARING EDGE BEARING AGAINST THE INNER SURFACE OF THE SKIN AND THE CURVILINEAR SHEARING EDGE EMBRACING THE RIB CAGE, THE TOOL IS MOVED FROM THE HEAD TOWARD THE TAIL TO REMOVE SUBSTANTIALLY ALL OF THE FLESH PORTION OF THE FISH WITH A PLOW-LIKE ACTION. THE BLADES ARE MIRROR IMAGES OF EACH OTHER, ONE BEING SUITABLE FOR USE ON ONE SIDE OF THE FISH AND THE OTHER BLADE SUITABLE FOR USE ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE FISH.

United States Patent [191 Penman June 28, 1974 [76] Inventor: Melvin C.Penman, 560 Heim Rd.,

Getzville, NY. 14068 [22] Filed: June 19, I972 [21] Appl. No.: 263,763

Related US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 50,848, June 29,1970, Pat. No.

5/1967 Westerdahl 17/46 x Primary Examiner-Lucie H. LaudenslagerAttorney, Agent, or FirmE. Herbert Liss [57] ABSTRACT A hand tool havinga handle with a concave blade at each end and a method for obtaining askinless, boneless one piece fillet. The blade includes a linearshearing edge boneless a curvilinear shearing edge conforming to the ribcage of a fish, the edges converging to an apex. The apex of the blademay be inserted in a slit along the backbone of the fish terminating ina transverse slit at the tail. With the concavity facing toward thetail, the linear shearing edge bearing against the inner surface of theskin and the curvilinear shearing edge embracing the rib cage, the toolis moved from the head toward the tail to remove substantially all ofthe flesh portion of the fish with a plow-like action. The blades aremirror images of each other, one being suitable for use on one side ofthe fish and the other blade suitable for use on the opposite side ofthe fish.

2 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures 1 FISH CLEANING DEVICE AND METHOD FORFILLETING This is a division, of application Ser. No. 50,848 filed onJune 29, 1970, now US. Pat. No. 3,672,002, dated June 27, 1972.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to hand tools and amethod for cleaning fish and more particularly to a filleting tool andmethod for obtaining skinless and boneless one piece fillets. I

With known methods of filleting fish much skill and experience arerequired. The fish are first scaled and then boned, sometimes followedby the separate skinning step. These processes are time consuming andresult in loss of much of the edible flesh of the fish. Often with knownmethods bones are inadvertently left in the fillet. In. some instances,because of the skill required and the time necessary to remove" theskin, the'skin is left with the edible flesh.

Hand tools for cleaning fish utilizing a concave scraper are known'foruse in eviscerating and removing entrails of fish and for scaling fishas well as for opening bellies of fish. For example, US. Pat. No.2,968,060 which discloses a tool for opening the belly of a fishincludes a spoon-shaped protective device for recovering the roe withoutmutilation. US. Pat. No. 3,290,720 discloses a concave or spoon-shapedscraper for removing entrails. However, none of these concave scrapersdisclose a pair of-cooperating shearing edges for removing the entireedible portion of the flesh while avoiding opening of the belly andremoving of the entrails.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention askinless,

boneless fillet is obtained utilizing a tool having a concave orspoonlike blade with a linear shearing edge on one side thereof and acurvilinear shearing edge on the other side thereof cooperating with thelinear shearing edge to remove the entire edible flesh between the ribof a handle, the blades being mirror images of each other so that one issuitable for use on one side of the' fish while the other is suitablefor use on the other side of the fish. Scaling, opening of the belly andremoval of entrails is avoided when the tool of the present invention isutilized.

A simple method for filleting the fish with a tool of this type involvesfirst slitting the fish longitudinally along each side of the backbonefrom the head to a point adjacent the tail and terminating the slit witha transverse slit adjacent the tail or caudal fin. The blade is theninserted into the longitudinal slit adjacent the head of the fish and isdrawn rearwardly toward the caudalffin with a curvilinear shearing edgeembracing the outer side of the rib cage and with a linear edge adjacentthe inner surface of the skin. The concavity of the blade faces the tailof the fish, and as the blade is drawn rearwardly a shearing and plowingaction occurs as a single piece boneless and skinless fillet rolls outat theleading concavesurface of the tool. Thus a boneless, skinlessfillet is obtained. This process is repeated with the other blade on theother side of the fish to obtain a second boneless, skinless fillet.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a simple andefficient tool for extracting in one piece, without bones or skinattached thereto, substantially the entire edible flesh portion of afish.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method for filleting afish to obtain a skinless, boneless fillet in a simple and efficientmanner.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing detailed description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevational view of thetool of this invention looking toward the concavity of the blades.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of one blade of the tool ofthis invention.

FIG. 3 is a top elevational view of a fish showing the position of thedorsal slits in preparation for filleting.

FIG. 4 is a view of the fish showing the dorsal or longitudinal slit andthe transverse slit.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the fish with the filleting operation inprogress.

FIG. 6 is an elevational view of the fillet obtained by the article andmethod of this invention.

FIG. 7 is the remaining disposable skin and skeletor portions of thefish following the filleting operation.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIG. 1 there is shown afilleting tool 10 having a handle '12 of suitable plastic or fibrousmaterial wrapped or formed about a shank 14 between a pair of blades 16and 16. The shank 14 may be an integral element or may be fonnedseparately with each of the blades 16 and 16- respectively. The faces 18and 18' of the blades 16 and 16' are concave, the concavity facing thesame side in each'of the blades. An edge 20 of the blade 16 may besubstantially linear and extends somewhat obliquely to the shank 14. Themajor portion 22 of the other edge is convex and the minor portion 24thereof is of concave curvilinear shape and is substantially an arc ofan ellipse whichconforms substantially to the curvature of the rib cageof a fish. The edges 20 and 24 may be sharpened to form shearing edgesand converge to form an apex 26. The end portion of the apex 26 may bebent slightly away from the concave face 18 as 28, best shown in FIG. 2.The blade 16' is substantially identical to the blade 16 and is a mirrorimage thereof.

The method of filleting a fish utilizing this tool comprises the step ofslitting the fish with a sharpened knife 30 longitudinally on each sideof the backbone shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 at 32 and 32'. The slit extendsthrough the scales, skin and flesh to the rib cage 36 of the fish from apoint adjacent the head 38 to a point adjacent the tail or caudal fin40. It terminates in a transverse slit 42 extending through to theventral portion of the fish adjacentthe caudal fin 40. The fish is thenplaced on its side and the apex of the blade 16 is inserted into theslit 32 adjacent the head 38 of the fish with the edge 24 embracing therib cage 36 and the edge 20 extending through the flesh to the innersurface of the skin. The concavity 18 faces the tail 40. The bladeplowing tool 16 is then moved along longitudinally toward the tail inthe direction of the concavity and, as it moves, shearing edges 24 andshear the meat from the ribcagej36 and the skin of the'fish respectivelywith a plow-like action. The edible flesh rolls out in advance of theblade, 16 at the concave surface 18 as shown in FIG.. 4 and remains inone piece as seen in FIG. 6. When the blade reaches the slit 42 a fillet44, shaped substantially like that shown in FIG. 6, is obtained. i

It will now be apparentthat a unique tool and novel method for filletingfish has been provided by this in-,,

vention. The tool is simple in constructionand efficient-,and with theuse of this tool scaling, opening of the belly and removal of theentrails is avoided. Askin less, boneless fillet is obtained whichincludes substantially all of the edible flesh portion of the fish.Utilizing the method and tool of this invention, filleting 'alfish inthe above described manner Canbe rapidly accomadjacent the tailextending from the end of said longitu- 4 dinal slit to the ventralportion of the fish, layingthe fish flat on its side on a flat, hardsurface with the longi tudinal and transverse slits facing the'surface,inserting. a plowing tool into the longitudinal slit at the headend ofthe flesh and piercing through the flesh, plowing simultaneously theflesh between .the skin and the skeleton from adjacent the headend inthe direction of the tail end toward the transverse slot adjacent thetail to plished and a large number of fishfilleted in a brief period oftime. t

Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been described 'forthe purpose of illustration it will be apparent'that variousmodifications and other embodi-' ments are possible within the scope ofthe invention. It

is to be understood, therefore, that the invention is not 7 cutting alongitudinal slit extending from the head to the tail of the fishadjacent the backbone through the skin and flesh to the rib cage,cutting a transverse'slit produce a boneless, skinless fillet. l g

2. A method for fill'etingfish comprising the steps of cutting alongitudinal slit adjacent each side of the backboneof the fishextending from the head. to the tail of the fish and through the skinandiflesh' tothe rib cage, cutting a transverse slit on eachside of thefish adjacent the tail extending from the end of said longitudinal slitto the ventral portion'of the fish, lyingtghefish on its side on asurface, inserting a plowing tool into the lower longitudinal slit atthe head "end of the fish and 'piercing the flesh between the skin andthe skeleton,

simultaneously plowing-the flesh between theskin and the skeleton fromadjacentthe head end in the direction of the tail end toward thetransverse slot adjacent the tail to produce a boneless, skinlessfillet, turning the fish over on its other side and repeating the stepsof inserting a plowing tool and piercing the flesh between the skin andthe skeleton and simultaneously plowing the flesh between the skin andthe skeleton from adjacent the head in the direction of the tail endtoward the transverse slot adjacent the tail to produce a secondboneless skinless fillet.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent 3,820,196Dated June 28, 1974 Inventor(s) Melvin C. Penman It is certified thaterror appears in the above-identified patent and that said LettersPatent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Abstract, line 4 After "edge" delete boneless and substitute -and--'-'.

- Change "skeletor" to skeleton.

Col. 2, line 28 C01. 4, line 6 After "of the" (first occurrence) delete'--fleshand substitute -fish-.

"' Signed and sealed this 1st 'day of October 1974.

(SEAL) Attest:

McCOY M. GIBSON JR. C. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner ofPatents

